Um Novo Homem

The older I get the more I realize how this movie is a little cheesy, But if you really like a feel good movie you can't go wrong with this one. Danny Devito did a wonderful job playing a teacher in the army.(a job he didn't ask for and is not looking forward to)He is brought in to teach these kids that everyone thinks are stupid. Every one of the characters left an impression in my mind. They all did a wonderful job at playing their roles.Each one of the student's are different and everyone knows someone in real life like each one of them. It is a little like dead poet's society but with more comedy and a more "happy good feeling" I am always in a GREAT mood at the end of this movie!

Let me start off by saying that this movie is miss-marketed as a comedy. As a comedy, this movie is, at best, mediocre. Sure, there are some funny moments, but it isn't nearly as hilarious as it claims to be. However, what this movie lacks in comedy, it makes up for with it's other qualities. This is a warm, fuzzy, feel-good movie with a lot of wisdom in it. The character development is excellent and we really get to like the characters. The bond between DeVito and his students is strong. This movie is very touching, with a few funny moments in-between. Sure, there are some corny scenes (the rap scene) but hey, every teacher has their own way of making their students understand their material, right? I would recommend this movie, although not as a comedy.

What a polarity of opinions on this one! It's either love it or hate it time. Put me definitely in the camp of this movie's admirers and supporters. I noticed that many of this film's fans were from all over: Texas, Canada, Scotland, Brooklyn, Australia, and Paris! Many noticed the similarity to Dead Poets Society as did I. Other movies it could be compared to are Mr. Holland's Opus and Konrack, and the more recent French film, The Chorus, movies in which other teachers too are celebrated for enriching the lives and spirits of their students. I think your Parisian correspondent sums it up the best: to see fine art working its way into the psyches of those previously unaware of it and to see people growing in spirit as a result of their exposure to and interactivity with it: that's what makes this story such a treat and an inspiration. It's what makes being a teacher worthwhile and justified. It moved and touched me. I had a personal connection to this movie's plot line as well: I knew a teacher who used to go into inner city schools and also taught the kids Shakespeare, especially the old-fashioned swear words the author used in the plays! Quite successfully too. Also, I grew up in Detroit so I appreciated the opening of the film set on familiar streets of the Motor City. A beautiful and touching film. None of the film's critics or supporters commented on the plot line in which the teacher recovered the true history of his recruit's father's unrecognized heroism. That was beautiful too. Go see this film and be inspired.

This is a feel good movie, not very deep BUT well conceived, written and acted. DeVito is excellent as a failing marketing man being transformed into a thoughtful, caring army educator. As important is the film's excellent presentation and discussion of the works of Shakespeare.

No surprise, DeVito's self centered abrasiveness meets with antipathy. Army officers don't care. Convinced of their own worthlessness, DeVito's students are disinterested, at best. During the semester, DeVito, mellows, students learn enough to advance,and Army brass begins to appreciates the new teacher.

The best part of this film is not DeVito's or the student's redemption but the film's beguiling Shakespeare presentation. DeVito teaches the Bard with passion. The writers deliver illuminating, focused student dialog. As one who didn't "get" Shakespeare until seeing MacBeth a year after graduation. This movie was a better class than anything I took in high school or college.

Enjoy the film and the class.

Army recruits categorized as, shall we say, neither the best nor brightest, but they somehow get turned on when reluctant teacher DeVito reads Shakespeare's Hamlet to them and it hits a chord. The high point of the film is reached when one of those recites on command his "irrelevant" Shakespeare on a rainy night's drill to Sergeant Gregory Hines and finds in his memory from "Henry V" (with lead-in not at hand) "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. For he today that sheds his blood with me, Shall be my brother." This is a truly nice movie, about heroes but not about touting war. At a later point, my usually stoic wife shed some tears. Danny De Vito is surprising to me. He generally leaps over my expectations, no matter how far I raise them up.